Until now, known technical implementations of home networks or alarm systems for the hearing-impaired have been unable to communicate directly with conventional hearing device systems. Existing systems use either an additional device with an optical light signal or vibration signal in order to notify the hearing-impaired person of an event in the home or house network (doorbell, telephone, alarm clock, baby monitor or the like). Alternative systems also offer the option of establishing the acoustic connection to a hearing device via a plug-in module (MXL) or induction loop. However, MLX systems are designed as an additional module for a broadband audio transmission and are thus clearly oversized for the present signaling application, particularly with regard to power consumption and size.
Patent DE 103 45 173 B3 discloses a modular remote control unit for hearing aid devices. This remote control unit may have resources for transferring data between the remote control unit and another device other than the hearing aid device. For example, such a remote control unit may be used to establish a connection between the hearing aid device and a data network, e.g. Bluetooth or wireless LAN.